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I'm a little confused on this thread. You said you got a call from an equipment vendor. Are we talking package units here? What are we talking about?

He needs to provide you with Lon Cards in his stuff unless you can do BACnet.

York has Lonworks.
Trane has lonworks.
McQuay has Lonworks.

I believe that Carrier also has a flavour but am not exactly sure how.

So what's the deal?

"There is plenty of room at the top because very few people care to travel beyond the average route. And so most of us seem satisfied to remain within the confines of mediocrity." -- Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe, first president of Nigeria

It was the York guy. These are packaged rooftop units. He said he couldn't do LON. I didn't inquire further because I know Lennox and Trane are bidding and I know they can do LON. I'm agnostic as long as it's Lonworks and preferably has a plugin.

York and LON

Originally Posted by ctrlguy

It was the York guy. These are packaged rooftop units. He said he couldn't do LON. I didn't inquire further because I know Lennox and Trane are bidding and I know they can do LON. I'm agnostic as long as it's Lonworks and preferably has a plugin.

You do remember that JCI now owns York don't you? They may be slow in implementation of LON on the York platform, but should be able to address this for you. Your vendor may have to go back to HIS factory rep in order to get the correct people involved.

I also believe that if more contractors started using Echelon's LONMaker that a lot of interface issues could be addressed(pun intended). I know the price is high, but how much time and $$ is wasted chasing your tail waiting on manufacturers and third-party vendors.

We used LON out in San Diego a decade ago, and everthing interfaced perfectly with Trane, Hitachi, and others native (non-LON) boards. THe key was a controls guy that KNEW and lived Echelon LONMaker. JMHO

I agree with you concerning LonMAker but I have also seen LonWatcher used quite effectively in the right hands. I dont think that the cost of LonMaker is pricey at all when you compare it to many of the other manufacturers software packages. M-Tools was and probably still is a good buy. Newron SYstems makes some real nice LON software but I consider them to be a little pricey.
I use LonMaker now with a lot of Trane equipment as well as Distech, Echelon and Loytec to name a few. I have never had an integration problem other than issues with new devices that needed patches, but thats common with anyones equipment. Tranes new LNS plug-ins are pretty handy.
I see a lot of talk here about non-LNS and 'not LonMark certified'. The easy solution is to avois these devices. Generally these manufacturers are trying to ride on the LON name but keep their stuff somewhat proprietary. The simple solution is to not buy their junk. There is plenty of equipment out there that is LNS, LonMark certified with plug-ins. If you buy something other you accept the risk and expense involved to make it work. That is not to say that some of this 'generic' equipment is not good, just be sure it comes well recommended by a reputable source.